Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

from the little-pink-comments dept

This week, both of the top insightful comments come from my response to John Mellencamp's screed about the "apathy" of the entertainment industry in the face of piracy. JWW took first place with a comment that, apart from mistaking me for Mike, laid out the basic facts:

Its quite simple.

The Internet >> the recorded music industry

Basically the internet is way way way more important to mankind and human communications and the distribution of ideas than whether people get paid via some old school system (which Mike correctly notes looks more like indentured servitude than the net does).

So what we're left with is that fact that artists damn well better learn how to use this fantastic new distribution, advertising, promotional, connection tool that is the internet to build careers that work for today, not the 1950's.

Not far behind we've got Gwiz, responding directly to Mellencamp's description of the internet as "the new delivery system", and pointing out the fundamental (and illustrative) mistake therein:

This another tidbit he got wrong.

The Internet is not the "new delivery system".

It's a two-way communication platform. It's a many-to-many relationship. It will never, ever be turned into a one-way one-to-many system like broadcast TV. It's not built that way.

For Editor's Choice, first up we've got GMacGuffin on our post about the MPAA's ongoing efforts to prevent a Megaupload user from retrieving his data. The MPAA's insistence that it wants to prevent further infringement has always seemed pretty dubious, as GMac points out:

Infringing content -- by definition -- was made by someone other than the Megaupload user. It's already out there somewhere else, so infringers don't need to obtain access to their lockers. And wouldn't be asking to get at their infringing content in a Federal Criminal case anyway. Friggin Duh! (Oh, but you know that anyway.)

Cue disingenuousity music...

Challenge to musicians in the Techdirt community: score some "disingenuousity music"—it could be the soundtrack of the age.

Up next we've got PaulT on our post about the bizarre claims that more movies being made is somehow a bad thing. Specifically, he responded to the comment about films that "shouldn't have gotten made."

Translation: we wouldn't have funded them, we wouldn't know how to market them, so we don't want to see them being successful lest they undermine our tepid production line.

Moving on to the Funny side, we open with a comment on our post about Lucasfilm's sale to Disney, from none other than the Sith Lord himself. Darth Vader kicked off the comments by repeating an (in)famous line and one of George Lucas' most reviled latter-day changes to the Star Wars saga, while also providing a link to a handy web service:

"We swear we didn't pay him."

Re: "We swear we didn't pay him."

can't prove a negative.
burden of proof is on the one disputing it to prove the positive that nullifies it.
because, you know, that's actually possible.

come to think of it, our resident trolls need to learn that one.

(yes, I realise you were probably joking and know this already, and found it amusing in that capacity. I have problems leaving incorrect things alone, and not just on the internet. Hence part of the reason for my usual excess of parentheticals and my inability to leave uncorrected trolls alone :S)

really - the internet is bigger than content

That's the best you can do? by that standard GM is bigger than you so let them have all your money. "Rights" are about protecting everyone - powerful or not. Balance is about having respect for individuals as well as the bigger picture. The slave trade was bigger than any one individual - so it should trump the rights of individuals? Yikes!

And the more movies/less movies item is equally absurd. It's fantastic that low cost movies are being distributed that could never be economically distributed before. But people spent $50 million to see wreck-it Ralph notwithstanding. The internet should allow BOTH - big and low budget - and let people invest in content if people want to see it. Lack of IP protection prevents that investment and ONLY the low budget survives. Artists want an internet that encourages both - not ONLY free, but also supports commerce between willing ticket-buyers and willing producers that's not destroyed by the everything MUST be free folks. That's a stronger network, not a weaker one, and one that's more powerful for everyone, not one that grows by sucking the lifeblood out of creators for the sole benefit of consumers.

Re: really - the internet is bigger than content

The internet should allow BOTH - big and low budget - and let people invest in content if people want to see it. Lack of IP protection prevents that investment and ONLY the low budget survives. Artists want an internet that encourages both - not ONLY free, but also supports commerce between willing ticket-buyers and willing producers that's not destroyed by the everything MUST be free folks.

I actually agree with this sentiment for the most part. The problems I have is when your IP enforcement collides with my individual rights of Free Speech, anonymity and due process. Personally, I hold my individual freedoms miles above your wishes to earn money from your creations. If you want to enforce your IP rights in ways that hold these core values above your enforcement practices - go for it.

As a taxpayer, I also do not wish that you spend my hard earned money to enforce your IP rights either. If you want to do so, do it on your own dime please.

Now I also have a question or two for you. What are you willing to sacrifice to solve the problem of piracy? For example - would you agree to reasonable limits on copyright, say 10 years max, in order to gain a healthier respect for copyright from the general populace? Would you agree to opt-in copyright where in order to gain copyright protections the artist would need to proactively register the work?